THE PIGMY HIPPOPOTAMUS I I 5 



perhaps he remembers it as a huge, inert mass, 

 reposing, uncouth and hideous, on its bed of straw. 

 Nevertheless, as the remains of pigmy elephants 

 have been found in the caverns of Malta, 1 so also 

 the great hippopotamus of to-day has a dwarf 

 congener barely the size of a heifer, inhabiting a 

 restricted area of Western Africa, and perhaps 

 also ranging into the Congo Forest. 



The pigmy hippopotamus (Hippopotaimis liberi- 

 ensis] stands about thirty inches high at the 

 shoulder, and measures about sixty-five inches in 

 length, exclusive of the short tail. The average 

 weight of the animal is said to be about four 

 hundred pounds, and the maximum estimated 

 weight (probably seldom attained) is seven hundred 

 pounds : the males are larger than the females. 

 Living specimens are slaty-black on the back, 

 greenish grey on the sides, and greyish white 

 beneath, but the hues of the skin probably vary 

 according to the moisture or dryness of the hide : 

 at any rate a very little observation of the common 

 hippopotamus in menageries will show that the 

 larger species, when recently emerged, is brownish- 

 blue above and reddish below, but that when dry 

 it is blackish-brown. The same rule may apply 

 more or less closely to its dwarf congener. 



Although to the superficial observer the pigmy 



1 Curiously enough the bones of giant dormice have also been found 

 in these caves. 



